Well, I'm a day later than the weekend but that's okay! It's been a somewhat busy weekend, between getting some more Draft 2 edits done, some hobbying with Warhammer, and wrapping Christmas gifts. But I have not forgotten that this week we're looking at some of my inspirations that have led me on this journey with Dragonsoul.
But before we do that, before we talk about the things that have inspired me, let's take a moment to talk about my plans for the holidays. My friends and family will admit it; I'm not much of a holiday guy, particularly Christmas. I worked 5 years for Walmart, and the retail atmosphere killed any shred of joy I felt during this time. I'm not particularly religious (not knocking anyone who is,) so that aspect of Christmas is lost on me. I do however, enjoy the time spent with friends, family, gift giving, and good food.
Christmas is also one of my most productive times of the year I've found. Ironic. Last year it was less so, but that had more to do with some important developments in my life; I had a new job I had just started, new relationship that was finding its footing, so my writing actually didn't go into high gear until after the holiday.
But typically there's something about the holidays, the idea of a few extra days off and the warmth of the inside versus the cold of the outside that inspires me to write. I'm expecting that on Christmas Eve, Day, and the Day After that I'll make some good progress on my writing. My goals are pretty clear. I just finished Chapter 8 of Draft 2.
So... I still have a lot to go. Chapter 8 in Draft 1 was Chapter 7, and that former Chapter 7 is being split into essentially two chapters. So Chapter's 9 and 10 coming up are a bit of new content and old content - the remnants of Chapter 7 (Draft 1) and Chapter 8 (Draft 1.) Confusing?
You know what's even more confusing? Realizing one of your characters is NOT a point of view character. I'm not going to get into too much detail because spoilers and such, but I have two characters in Book 1 named Avery and Renwyn. They are joined at the hip effectively. She is the young noblewoman on the run, and he is her knight, protecting her and caring for her. In Draft 1, Renwyn had POV chapters, and quite honestly? I struggled writing his chapters. I never struggled with Avery's, but with Renwyn I had quite the time.
So here I am the other day, working on Chapter 8. And what did I decide? I'm going to spend more time with Avery and take away Renwyn's POV. He doesn't need it. He's a strong character, and he's one that supports Avery, but he's NOT a main character. He serves her story, and in what is effectively going to be my debut novel, I don't want one of my main characters to be undercooked because she shared the lime light with an even less important character.
Yeah, big decisions were made.
Now then. The meat and potatoes of this blog post were meant to be about my inspirations. I'll be honest, I'm not sure that I have a whole great list for you. But I'll rattle some of the fiction in my life that has led me to my Dragonsoul journey. In no particular order:
Dungeons and Dragons
The Lord of the Rings
A Song of Ice and Fire
Eragon
The Stormlight Archive
Warcraft III
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
The Legend of Drizzt
Vikings (the show)
Viking (the trilogy by Tim Severin)
Warhammer Fantasy
There's more, plenty more, and quite honestly, there's a lot of real life things that I've seen that inspired me, as well as historical events that stick out to me where I honestly thought how would that have been different if dragons existed?
Anyway, thanks for reading! Next time, we're gonna talk about my grand vision for Draigtir - that is to say, what I intend to do long term in this world, from series, to short stories and beyond!
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